, India’s second-largest telecom service provider, on Wednesday introduced new postpaid plans – priced about 3-11% higher than earlier. While the company has international roaming benefits in each of the new packs, starting at ₹499, this is the largest such price hike since 2024.
In an exchange filing, Airtel said that the users will be able to enjoy an international trip with free roaming every year with these new postpaid plans, along with all existing benefits, effective 8 October 2026.
The announcement comes weeks before the anticipated launch of Jio Platforms, the country’s largest telecom player, later this month. The telecom and digital-services arm of Reliance is likely to seek a valuation of about ₹11 lakh crore ($114 billion), according to Bloomberg.
In a bid to improve the average revenue per user (ARPU), telecom players have been encouraging subscribers to migrate to higher-value plans by adding new services and discontinuing the lower-value ones. ARPU measures how much revenue a company earns per user or subscriber over a specific period. Earlier this year, Vi also increased prices for some of its postpaid family packs by 7% to 9%.
Centrum Institutional Research said that the pricing environment in the telecom industry has become more favourable and, it is likely to see another tariff hike of 12-15 per cent over the next four to five months.
New Airtel postpaid plan
Brokerages signal stable July-September results
Brokerages have also signalled that in the July-September quarter, Airtel and Jio are likely to gain subscriber market at the expense of Vi.
Elara Securities highlighted that the sector is likely to report a steady second quarter, driven by subscriber additions and growth in home broadband. Moreover, migration to higher-priced plans, upgrades to 4G/5G, conversion to postpaid and other premiumisation strategies are expected to support the ARPU for Airtel and Jio.
For Reliance Jio, Centrum projected subscriber additions of 8 million QoQ to reach 541 million, with ARPU likely to grow by 1% QoQ to ₹218 per month. This growth is expected to be driven by 5G FWA additions and a higher number of days in the quarter, translating into an estimated 2.6% QoQ revenue expansion.
Bharti Airtel ARPU
Bharti Airtel is expected to add 3 million subscribers QoQ to reach 380 million, with ARPU growing by 2.0 per cent QoQ to an industry-leading ₹269 per month, supported by ongoing 2G-to-4G migrations and quarterly day count. The company is expected to report approximately 3.1% QoQ revenue growth.
Vodafone Idea is projected to gain 1.0 million subscribers QoQ, reaching 194 million, alongside blended ARPU growth of approximately 0.8% QoQ to ₹178 per month. Management commentary on VIL’s capex activity and fundraising progress will be closely tracked.
According to Elara Securities, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio are expected to add around 4.1 million and 7.2 million mobile subscribers, respectively, in the September quarter. Airtel’s ARPU is expected to increase 1.2% sequentially and 4.5% year-on-year to ₹267 in Q2FY27. Jio’s ARPU is estimated to rise 1% QoQ and 3% YoY to ₹218.
“Postpaid for us is about delivering the best-in-class experience in the Indian market. We have the best network experience in the country, on which we offer our postpaid customers Fast Lane technology on 5G, and constant Spam and fraud protection,” said Amit Tripathi, Director, Market Operations, Bharti Airtel, on the new plans.
“What is more, we offer the customers the best value – through access to entertainment and services that enrich their everyday lives; and now Free International Roaming for them. We are determined to constantly raising the game for customers and give them more and more reasons to choose Airtel Postpaid,” he added.